The present invention is directed to a method for manufacturing a semiconductor component in which a semiconductor body that has a covering layer on at least a partial area of surface of the body is fastened on a support plate.
In order to protect semiconductor laser components, in particular high-power semiconductor laser components from damage due to overheating, these components are often mounted on cooling bodies. These cooling bodies are constructed so that the heat produced in a semiconductor body is rapidly discharged to the environment.
German published Offenlegungsschrift 43 15 580 disclosed an arrangement of a laser diode chips and what is called a microchannel heat sink. During the manufacturing of this arrangement, the laser diode chip is soldered onto a cover plate of a microchannel heat sink (MKWS) after the laser chip has been manufactured. The cover plates consist of several copper sheets. Due to the different thermal coefficients of expansion of the copper and semiconductor material, a plastically deformable soldering material is used.
The connection between the laser diode chip and the cover plate must have as high as possible uniformity over the entire connection area with respect to the thermal, electrical and mechanical properties, so that a homogeneous current and heat transition between the semiconductor body and the base plate can take place. Inhomogeneous thermal and/or electrical characteristics in the laser diode chip lead to inhomogeneous heat and/or current distribution, which for example accelerates aging, and an extreme case can cause the destruction of the laser diode chip.
Meeting the above-named requirements is particularly difficult when, as often is the case for laser diode chips, the surfaces of the semiconductor body are contaminated with a material, so that the solder wets the surface only partially or not at all. In semiconductor bodies of laser diode chips, the surface is mostly contaminated with material for forming the mirrors such as for example, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, SiO.sub.2, Si, SiC and/or Si.sub.3 N.sub.4, which materials are deposited immediately after the manufacturing of the semiconductor body, for example on the side or end surfaces thereof. These mirror layers form the optical resonator of the laser. With this procedure, it is almost unavoidable, or, respectively, is possible only with a very large process-oriented expense, to prevent a contamination of the contact surfaces of the semiconductor body. The term "contact surfaces" means those partial areas of the surface of the semiconductor body on which contact plates, for example the base plate, or contact metallizations are to be deposited.
Up to now, this problem is often solved in that the contact surface or surfaces of the semiconductor body are cleaned after applying the mirror coating. However, a cleaning of this type requires an additional procedure or processing step and it also increases a risk of breakage or damage to the semiconductor body. The problem with breakage or damage to the semiconductor body is particularly present for semiconductor bodies made of III-V semiconductor material, such as for example, GaAs, AlGaAs and InAlGaAs.